This is a discussion on Changing oil at 1K and using regular oil to help the rings seat…. within the General Maintenance, Troubleshooting & Accidents. forums, part of the Tech & Modifying & General Repairs category; Anyone heard of doing this? A friend of mine said to do this and then change to synthetic at the ...

Just use synthetic the entire time. Regular oil isn't going to do anything to help the rings seat. Where did your friend hear this?

? I don't know if it's true, but using regular oil for the first oil change is considered better for break in than using synthetic oil, until the second oil change. Then, synthetic would be the way to go... Just the way I understand it.

'02 WRX 4EAT, 311,000KMs/194,500Miles, Sold. Best car I ever had. '09 STi stage 1, hope this one will be good too...

As far as I know, WRXs are shipped from the factory with synthetic oil….right?

So if "regular" oil is so much better for break-in, why wouldn't Subaru ship the cars with that oil?

Excellent point. There are all sorts of theories on break-in and oils, but at the end of the day none of these are supported by anyone that has ever designed or been responsible for the worldwide maintenance of a single Subaru motor, let alone hundreds of thousands of Subaru motors.

Look at the owner's manual. Find an oil that specifically meets the viscosity and grade requirements, and use it at precisely the intervals dictated. That's it.

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Which brings up another question. My manual doesn't specify synthetic oil, it just says that synthetic oil CAN be used. I have heard and read that the wrx needs synthetic oil but am curious why the manual doesn't specify it.

"Never use synthetic engine oil during this process, use a straight weight, non-synthetic, non-detergent engine oil. You want friction at this point; use an SAE30 oil, non-synthetic, no detergents, etc."

"During the break-in process, we recommend using a high quality API SJ or newer mineral 20W-50 engine
oil. We also recommend using a genuine Subaru oil filter. Do NOT use a synthetic or synthetic blend
during the break-in process"

Which brings up another question. My manual doesn't specify synthetic oil, it just says that synthetic oil CAN be used. I have heard and read that the wrx needs synthetic oil but am curious why the manual doesn't specify it.

Subaru only recently updated the requirement for synthetic oils. It could be that your manual was simply printed before Subaru published the requirement. That being said, synthetic oils have great benefits over mineral oil for any turbocharged car -- specifically the film strength under extreme heat. Though, that's only after the break-in period...

"Never use synthetic engine oil during this process, use a straight weight, non-synthetic, non-detergent engine oil. You want friction at this point; use an SAE30 oil, non-synthetic, no detergents, etc."

"During the break-in process, we recommend using a high quality API SJ or newer mineral 20W-50 engine
oil. We also recommend using a genuine Subaru oil filter. Do NOT use a synthetic or synthetic blend
during the break-in process"

and this is all absolutely correct for a fresh virgin engine.. But our engines have already had the initial run in haven't they? Every engine I've ever BUILT fresh I followed the non-syth rules for the first 100mi or so, after that changed over to full synthetic. The scoobie I bought new and ran the original oil till the first oil change interval (3750mi) and then switched to synthetic. So far over 60k mi clocked and no consumption/burning issues. I'd go to say it broke in pretty well.

OBP 2010 5dr *traded*
SWP 2013 FRS
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